Introduction

Speed of light update

If you are looking for information about the recent suggestion
that the laws of physics (including the speed of light) might have
been different in the past, please see the end of the
article.

Rich Deem

A common young earth argument for a young earth is that the velocity of light
has been decreasing exponentially since the creation of the universe.1 One of the
most significant implications of a rapidly decaying speed of light is that the
universe could actually appear to be much older than it really is. This is
because, in the past, the speed of light would have been much faster, meaning that
light would have traveled much farther, making the universe appear old even
though it were young. This page will examine the problems associated with the
theory, both in terms of how the universe works, and the data used to support
this claim.

Theoretical problems

Theoretical problems abound with the idea that the velocity of light might be
changing with time. Einstein's famous theory of general relativity is the most
serious challenge. To remind you, the theory is reproduced below:

E = mc2where E = energy, m = mass, and c = velocity of light

Although still called a "theory," Einstein's equation has survived
the tests of nearly a century of observational confirmation.2 The
equation above shows that any change in the velocity of light results in huge
changes in either the amount of energy or mass in the universe. For example, a
modest 2-fold decrease in the velocity of light would result in a 4-fold
decrease in the amount of matter, or amount of energy in the universe. There is
no evidence that any of these kind of changes are occurring in our universe.

Observational problems

Figure 1. Velocity of light for 193 values for the
years beginning in 1675.3

Not only are there theoretical problems with the decay of the speed of light,
but the data used to support this concept is less than convincing.3
Figure 1 (above) shows the data from 193 studies beginning in 1675. The only
thing notable about the data is how constant the speed of light has been using
these 193 uncorrected values. It can be seen that the deviation from the linear
regression is largest in the past (which would be expected, given the primitive
nature of the early experiments). Very little deviation from the regression
line can be seen for values reported during the last 100 years. The
"R2" value reported on Figure 1 is a measure of the kind of
linear relationship represented by the data. An R2 value of 1.0
indicates a perfect linear relationship between the two variables (in this case,
between the date and the value of C). A value of 0.0 indicates that there is no
relationship between the two variables. In Figure 1, the R2 value of
0.0005 indicates that there is no significant relationship between the velocity
of light and time.

Deceptive, selective reporting of data

Figure 2. Velocity of light for 120 selected values
for the years from 1727 to 1983.3

Not being content with these numbers, young earth creationists selected and
corrected the values to produce the figure seen to the above (Figure 2). Some of
the best values were eliminated because they did "not come under the
proposed hypothesis." These numbers included the values that were
determined using laser measurements and the atomic clock - the most accurate
measurements.

The real nature of the speed of light

Figure 3. Velocity of light for 114 of 120 selected
values for the years from 1800 to 1983.4

Looking at the above figure, one notes that the slope of the line is largely
determined by a few points done in the 1700's, at a time when methods were crude
and very susceptible to large errors. A plot eliminating the first 6 values from
figure 2 (all those before 1800), produces the plot seen in Figure 3 (right). As
can be seen, the values recorded from 1840 to 1983 have not significantly
changed over that period of time.

Conclusion

A constant speed of light is a problem to young-earth creationism, since the
nature of the creation (i.e., the large distances between galaxies) requires
either an old universe (required for light from the oldest galaxies to travel to
earth) or one that was made to deceive people into thinking it was old. An
exponentially decreasing speed of light solves both problems, since the large
distances between galaxies could be explained by a much faster speed of light in
the past, and God would not have had to create the universe with
"appearance of age." However, the young earth hypothesis that the
velocity of light has been decreasing with time is contradicted by both
theoretical and observational conflicts.

Speed of light update

Beginning in 1999 with preliminary observations on 30 quasar spectra,5
the absorption lines caused by magnesium and iron atoms seemed to have
shifted slightly relative to accepted laboratory measurements. Since
quasars are very old structures (all were formed near the beginning of the
universe), these results imply that the fine-structure constant of the
universe has changed since the beginning of the universe.

More recent data, published in 2001,6 but
popularized in the press in August, 2002, confirmed the preliminary data,
and established the amount by which the fine-structure constant has changed. It
turns out to be 0.001 per cent smaller (1 part in 100,000). Unfortunately,
the popular press has jumped on the study and published outlandish,
sensationalized accounts of the study, claiming that the results suggest
that time travel might be possible (Not!). Some people who are involved in
young earth creationism have bought the idea that the speed of light might
have been faster in the past without knowing the incredibly small amount
by which the constants have actually changed. The studies do not
support the idea that the speed of light was exponentially faster in the
past.

However, the results tend to confirm string theory, which states that the
universe was formed from ten dimensions, six of which have remained in
their original tightly curled configuration. The slow uncurling of
spacetime would be expected to produce changes in the fine-structure
constant of the universe similar to what was observed. Confirmation of
extra dimensions of space and time are important concepts in Christianity,
since the Bible claims that God exists outside the physical universe and
its dimension of time, although He can also interact within the universe
as He chooses. For more information, see The Extradimensional Nature of God.